What to do with old control arms?

[boy412]

I was going to make a little tree out of them for the garage...but figured there must be a better way to put them to use. I know some have just replaced the bushings and re-used the arms themselves. Are they of any value to anyone?

I'd be willing to give them away for nothing...I just don't want them to end up in a landfill somewhere. My other thought was to take them somewhere that accepts scrap metal?

PM me if you want them (just pay shipping). They came off a '03 A4 1.8T and the bushings are all pretty shot. The boot on one of the UCA's got wrecked by a pickle fork but the others are OK. This is both upper and lower control arms.

[Staz]

i posted up mine with all the mounts (tranny, motor, rear) for 50 bucks .. nobody bought them .. posted them up for free and had someone come the same night lol

[boy412]

That's more or less what I'd like to do. I'd rather someone got some use out of them instead of just chucking them in the trash.

[Audi Team Steeg]

You don't happen to know where to get just the bushings??

I'd take your set of arms if I could find bushes from a reasonably priced importer( I'm in south africa and they not locally available)
(Idea is to put the new bushes on while out of the car and then replace them as a unit)


Any ideas?

[Elliott]

Got a TIG machine? Make them into a mascot for your garage.

[Seerlah]

When I replaced my control arms (replaced all lowers when just one of them was bad, and didn't do the uppers yet), it wasn't the inner bushing that went bad. It was the outer joint. Just a heads up if someone wants to go the route of replacing the bushing and not really thinking about the outer joint. It would be better to replace the entire arm, and not just a bushing.

[walky_talky20]

The joint is what makes them rattle. That is the major failure point on these. Sure, the bushing get a little torn here and there, but it is ball joint play which dictates replacement for state inspection and such. You can test them for play pretty easily off the car. If the ball joint is still nice and tight and the boot isn't ripped, it might be worth it for somebody to reuse. But if there is play in the joint, even a little bit - it's junk.

At our shop we throw these arms in the aluminum scrap pile and we take it all in about once a year.

[old guy]

^. Chucked mine in the aluminum recycle bin at work.

[MikTip]

recycle bin...

[FourRings4me]

Aluminum is only around $.50/lb. Not worth it for just a few control arms.